Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
County Commissioners Brad Jackson and Ron Truex approved the lake access development amendment Tuesday before a full house.
About 100 people attended the commissioner's meeting in the old courtroom on the third floor of the Kosciusko County Courthouse.
Many of them have watched the amendment evolve over the last few months and attended the committee meetings as well as numerous Area Planning Commission meetings where first the erosion control amendment and now the lake access amendment were developed.
APC director Dan Richard advised the commissioners that the APC gave unanimous approval of the amendment Sept. 6, in an 8-0 vote, with one member absent.
Commissioner Avis Gunter is a member of the APC and she voted for the ordinance earlier this month. Gunter was attending an Indiana Association of Counties meeting in Indianapolis Tuesday.
Richard said David Tyler came to the APC last November requesting the establishment of a lakes district zone. Two months later the APC established a lakes task force with 40 to 50 people attending the regularly scheduled public meetings. APC commissioners Larry Coplen, Charles Hapner and Dick Kemper were members of the committee.
The erosion control ordinance was approved by the commissioners in May.
The lake access or anti-funneling amendment establishes a ratio of shoreline to housing units in an "off-shore" subdivision for access to a lake.
Under the ordinance, a developer "shall" provide 50 feet of shoreline for the first residential unit; 25 more for the second unit and 15 feet for each additional unit. A three-lot subdivision "across the street" from a lake, for example, now requires 90 feet of shoreline.
David Tyler said the amendment is vitally important to the lake communities.
"It would sensibly limit the current developer's practice of granting lake access to numerous non-lakefront users through a small waterfront lot. This practice is often referred to as funneling."
Tyler also introduced retired professor Pete Hippensteel of Angola. A Purdue University and Ball State University graduate, Hippensteel taught environmental science at Tri-State University and is a member of the state's soil and water board of directors.
Hippensteel said the ordinance will help maintain shorelines and minimize conflicts. He said Steuben County adopted a similar standard in 1999 and, in 2005, made the ordinance more stringent.
He suggested the shoreline requirements be changed to 100, 50 and 25 feet per unit.
Commissioner Jackson asked the people in favor of the ordinance to stand, and about 90 percent of the people in the room stood.
Wayne Snider and Edd Habegger spoke against the amendment.
Snider said the lakes are public. He observed that all the people in attendance were lake property owners.
"The bottom line is, this is to keep people off the lake. If Tippecanoe property owners cared abut the lake they'd have a sewer," Snider said.
Habegger suggested that people were afraid all the ag ground around the lakes would turn into subdivisions or trailer parks when sewer lines were available.
He suggested passage of the ordinance "will totally stop new development. Are we going to regulate before we investigate?"
He urged the commissioners to seek the truth. His belief is lake property will become so expensive that only the wealthy will be able to afford it.
Commissioner Truex said he researched existing condominium complexes. If the anti-funneling amendment had been in effect a couple of them would have had fewer units.
"Wawasee Bay has 75 units and could have 95 under this ordinance," Truex said.
County lawyer Mike Miner said he got a copy of the ordinance a week ago and wanted to study the legality of it.
Tyler said the APC's lawyer (Mike Reed) checked the legality of the amendment and found it defendable. Miner recommended the commissioners continue the ordinance until a later meeting.
Jackson said he thought the ordinance was reasonable.
"We all agree a line should be drawn in the sand, the question is where."
Truex said sewer services are coming and they will change the lakes.
The commissioner's approval was met with applause.
The commissioners also:
• Denied a rezoning request by Sandy Hall who wanted to change 30 acres zoned agricultural to residential. Because a confined feeding operation for pigs was a quarter of a mile away the request was denied. The property is on Pierceton Road, west of CR 550E.
